MOSCOW, March 10. /TASS/. While some Russians tend to be more "reactive" to changing circumstances by easily picking up and moving to live in other places, one should not overstate their numbers, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Friday.
His comment came after reporters noted that some Russians had decamped for Georgia following the announcement of the partial military mobilization, but we are now observing the reverse process as Russians have begun returning amid unrest in the Caucasus country.
"That’s what we said at the time: People leave, people return, people come. There are some people that are very, very prone to react, so to speak, to certain events, easily relocating to other places for the short or medium term. I don’t think it’s a trend. Of course, one shouldn’t overestimate the number of such people too much. But these people do exist, yes," Peskov said.
The spokesman said such people are free to come and go as they choose.
"They are always after something better, but they don’t understand that the Motherland is still probably the best place. Yet, no one stops them from trying their luck elsewhere. But, of course, it’s better to try one’s luck in a place that’s not the scene of this type of unrest and where people don’t burn the flags of your Motherland," Peskov said.
Thousands of people took to the streets of Tbilisi on March 7 and 8, after Georgia’s parliament adopted on first reading the Georgian version of a bill on registering foreign agents of influence. Both rallies ended late at night when security forces dispersed the protesters with water cannons and tear gas. More than 130 people were detained over two days of protests. Following the unrest, Georgia’s ruling party, the Georgian Dream, decided on the morning of March 9 to withdraw the bill.
In February, the Georgian parliament registered two bills on foreign agents - one a Georgian version and the other, a so-called American version, which was a translation of the US Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA). Under the Georgian version, news outlets could also be designated as foreign agents, while the bill’s provisions would not have affected individuals. The US version applied not only to legal entities, but also to individuals, and also called for criminal liability. The proposed legislation drew much criticism from the Georgian opposition and Western politicians and organizations.